vulpesvivus | ☮ 050; [voice/video] dated to saturday morning

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☮ 050; [voice/video] dated to saturday morning

[It had been a week since anyone heard this voice. Longer still since it was broadcast over the network.]

[For Hal Emmerich, it had been five years since he awoke from a dream calling itself Johto. Five long years of wandering as fugitives against the world, of unkind truths and harsh realities. Failed missions, broken hearts, and at last a hard-won victory at the end of it all. The Patriots' AIs were eliminated thanks in no small part to Naomi, and for the first time since 2005, Otacon felt that everything might just truly work out alright. But first there was Snake to worry about--he'd last been seen from the air, fighting Liquid Ocelot on top of Outer Haven.]

[And the very next second, Otacon was waking up in a room he only vaguely recognized. His voice was the only thing heard at first, sounding as if the Pokegear was a short distance away.]

Where--...? Oh, no. That's not good. I'm piloting a helicopter and I'm dreaming, that can't be a good thing. Wake up, I need to wake up or I'm going to crash right into Haven, it'd really be stupid to die now.

Phaaaa. [The concerned bleating of an Ampharos was much closer to the Gear than Otacon's voice--he was the one that had turned it on, most likely. The silence that followed was almost tangibly stunned.]

A...Asimov...? No way. This--that was just a dream. It still is, because this kind of thing doesn't just happen! Think of how many laws of physics a place like this would break, it's...it's not possible. I'm still in the Kasatka. I can't...

[Another pause. There was the shuffling sound of someone taking the Pokegear, and then a familiar yet somewhat older face in an unfamiliar turtleneck and trenchcoat appeared onscreen.]

...This really happened, didn't it? I thought--I thought it was just some dream I had. That I was going crazy or something. But it's too lucid to be anything like that, isn't it?

Is anyone else still here? How long has it been? And does anyone know if this place is even real?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[She nods quietly... taking his face in.]}

... How long ...?

_{[He looks so old...]}

...five years. It's 2014 for me now.

[Another smile, this one meant to be an attempt to soften what was one hell of a shock for both of them.]

Still just a week here, isn't it?

Yeah... I... didn't even know you'd gone unconscious...

I don't think too many people did. From what I've already heard, I think my father was trying to make sure no one worried too much. Which I guess I appreciate, considering even I couldn't have guessed how long I'd be gone.

Yeah, he... told me that you were working on something...

_{[She actually laughs a little bit, because... what else can you do? When she speaks again, she's wearing a smile, but her voice is a little subdued.]}

You look so tired...

He wasn't really wrong about that, at least. [He laughed quietly, considerably more subdued than usual himself.]

I do? Well...I guess we've been pretty busy.

... 'Least you can relax here, huh?

That'd definitely be a nice change of pace right about now.

_{[She nods.]}

... We're almost to Ecruteak City.

_{[... The end of the journey that she'd started FIVE YEARS AGO, from Otacon's perspective...]}

When I get there, I'm coming straight to wherever you are and I'm giving you a huge hug, okay?

I think I could really use one.

...I know it hasn't been that long for you, but...if there's anything you want to know about what happened, just ask. I think you're probably the only person I can tell. Well, the only one I can tell that won't think I'm insane.

[Because he sure as hell couldn't explain to Liquid how he'd possessed Ocelot and almost ended the world.]

_{[It's late, so Heather's not walking, which makes this easier. There's a shifting of nylon as she snuggles a little deeper into her sleeping bag. She'll stay up as long as Otacon needs. She might not be his real little sister, but she's going to do her best.]}

I've got plenty of time.

Talk to me.

Honestly? I don't even know where to start. It's been that chaotic.

[He hesitated for a second, looking a little unsure of himself at his next words.]

I guess...I'd have to start with Liquid.

Liquid...?

_{[Ooh... oh yeah.]

[It was easy to forget, with the two being so close, that Liquid had apparently been an enemy in their homeworld.]

[But needless to say, the first feeling that Heather feels is a sense of dread.]}

...yeah.

[Remembering the kind of things he knew now, this had suddenly gotten a lot more complicated for Otacon as well.]

This...isn't really easy, at least not now. But I can at least tell you he's not--the way you know him is nothing like he is back home. Not anymore.

I'll try to give you the short version. The night I first met Snake, one of Liquid's subordinates--a soldier named Revolver Ocelot--lost part of his arm in what I guess you could call an accident. [When you weren't calling him Gray Fox.]

When we saw Ocelot again a few years later, he'd...taken Liquid's as a prosthetic. Hell if I know why. [The idea seemed to make him sick to think about, or at least it did now.] When he crossed paths with Snake, something went...really wrong. Ocelot started moving and acting like Liquid, even using his exact voice and speech patterns. We could only really conclude that Liquid was possessing him somehow.

Since then...it's pretty much gotten worse. 'Revolver Ocelot' doesn't even seem to exist anymore. He's Liquid Ocelot now--worse than that he's been causing a hell of a lot of trouble to say the very least.

So...Snake's been pretty much enlisted to kill him.

[And that was the short version. At least, as far as Liquid went.]

...

... So Liquid's arm is possessing somebody and they're running around blowing shit up or something?

More like 'running around in an aquatic fortress' at the moment, but yeah. Pretty much.

[WELCOME TO METAL GEAR.]

... Well.

Uh.

That's... hm.

_[yeah.]

...honestly, after you see things like this for yourself, you just kind of stop asking 'how' and start asking 'how do we deal with it?'.

That's... wow.

Just.

... At least it's just his arm?

Yeah. It's weird, but it's hardly the weirdest thing I've seen lately.

... Dare I ask what IS the weirdest thing?

Recently or out of everything?

Let's stick to 'Recently', for the sake of simplicity.

[Flatly:] The ghost of a psychokinetic soldier in a gas mask taking over an empty cybernetic combat suit with six arms.

That's about as recent as it gets--that was a few hours ago at best.

... Wellp. You win.

Everybody can go home.

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